Ok, so I've gotten pretty far by just following the RBHP contribution guide, i can already extract the .mid file, add a 5-lane keyboard part, and update the .dta file to reflect that there is now a keys part. But once i load the song the game freezes, so what gives? Do i need to add a pro keyboard part as well? How can i do all this without screwing up the harmonies upgrades? Will the game freeze if the keyboardist has no animations?

as for the "Why?" im mostly doing this for personal use so my group of friends never have to worry about a 5th player effectively axeing half of our song selection.

Does the keys track have an audio channel? When you said that you edited the DTA file to take note of the changes, did you only add difficulty tiers for keys? Every playable instrument needs an audio track in the DTA or else it will crash upon loading.

A pro-keys chart isn't necessary if all you want is an extra 5-lane part to play.

As Fat Ha1p3rt mentioned, an audio track (one or more channels) must be mapped for every playable instrument part. When adding a "keys" chart to a pre-RB3 song, the background track is appropriated for the keys part. It's usually safe to assume the channel numbers for the background track are immediately after the vocal numbers, and it's usually safe to assume the background track is stereo (two channels) if any of the existing charts are attached to stereo tracks. So, if you see "( 'vocals' (9 10) )" in the DTA, adding "( 'keys' (11 12) )" after that likely will map the correct track to a "keys" chart.

Does the keys track have an audio channel? When you said that you edited the DTA file to take note of the changes, did you only add difficulty tiers for keys? Every playable instrument needs an audio track in the DTA or else it will crash upon loading.

I actually did that my first time trying this, i tested it with 2 songs, and it froze on both, I wasn't sure how the numbering worked, so when I saw every other upgrades pack had two more numbers that came after the vocals, I did the same thing. So if the keys has a difficulty rating, an audio track, and the midi file I add has [PART KEYS] in the text events, nothing should crash?

OMIGOSH IT WORKED! Ok, so very small issue, the guinea pig song I tried was Vasoline, any time there were multiple notes or chords in a row they would display as hammer ons, I'm assuming this is because of some note in the midi chart forcing the notes to be HOPOs, so just to recap I don't need to delete the song cache if i just change some notes right? I only need to change it if the dta file is different?

Ok so update, ive added rhythm guitar to six tracks, and they work fine when playing alone, as well as with two other instruments(drums and vocals) but when i load the song in a set list(while in all instruments mode) it crashes, ill run more tests to figure out what is exactly causing it to freeze (AIM, being in a setlist, etc.) but i genuinely don't know why a song would freeze in some conditions, but not in others.

ok, I tested it some more and realized all of them work in every scenario(aim, in a setlist etc.) except for monkey wrench, and that's only when the harmonies try to load, it freezes immediately, I'm pretty sure I just forgot to drag and drop a midi file but if you would still like to take a look yourself you're welcome to. how would I send you the files? I'm still new to posting on here.

I would LOVE TO if a few people expressed interest, but there is a different standard I would have to hold myself to if I was going to release these to other people in the community. for example, in Afterlife I took some creative liberties and charted the strings section to rhythm guitar but only in the bridge, and I know many might consider that something that should strictly be for a keys part. also I'm not confident, or even interested in doing animations, although I make sure that reductions are handled well.

Personally I'd say yay for creative liberties haha! These are OPTIONAL anyhow. I know and love the fact that charters on this site are perfectionists, but just stating my opinion haha
Anyhow, regardless of the outcome thanks for doing this

This really motivates me to do more rhythm guitar upgrades. I want to go about it systematically, starting with rock band 1 songs, but there are times i just think of a random lego rock band song or something and think "that song would be so fun if it had rhythm guitar"

This really motivates me to do more rhythm guitar upgrades. I want to go about it systematically, starting with rock band 1 songs, but there are times i just think of a random lego rock band song or something and think "that song would be so fun if it had rhythm guitar"

I think this is a cool idea. If I can make a recommendation, it would probably make sense to focus on songs that don't have keys in the actual song. There are still many authors adding key upgrades to DLC, and I definitely prioritize key upgrades over rhythm guitar. That way you don't have to worry about someone adding a key upgrade to a song that you've already charted rhythm guitar for. I have a spreadsheet of a few hundred DLC songs and I sorted them into 2 groups: songs that need keys and songs that don't have keys in the song. That may be useful to you.

I think this is a cool idea. If I can make a recommendation, it would probably make sense to focus on songs that don't have keys in the actual song. There are still many authors adding key upgrades to DLC, and I definitely prioritize key upgrades over rhythm guitar. That way you don't have to worry about someone adding a key upgrade to a song that you've already charted rhythm guitar for. I have a spreadsheet of a few hundred DLC songs and I sorted them into 2 groups: songs that need keys and songs that don't have keys in the song. That may be useful to you.

Oh yeah I actually had that thought from the start, one of the first i wanted to chart rhythm for was electric version, but when i noticed the keyboards in the mix I thought "damn, i really wish someone would do keys for this song". Knowing it might happen the road, i instead focused on charting rhythm for painkiller. But yeah I remember reading that keys spreadsheet you posted back when i was just lurking on the forums, i'll be sure to look into it.

i've run into another issue, it's easy for me to add rhythm to songs like painkiller and afterlife because those have harmony upgrades already, so I figured I could just update the .mid and songs.dta, and then just leave the upgrades.dta as it is. essentially piggybacking off of the harmony upgrades, but what am I supposed to do with a song like Are You Gonna Be My Girl? There's no .dta files in the RBHP package(because there's no harmonies needed for that song), so...can I just copy the .dta file straight from the LIVE file of that song into a new folder labeled "areyougonnabemygirl'? don't I need the exact song id in the upgrades.dta for the upgrade to work? where can I find this? thanks in advance.

i've run into another issue, it's easy for me to add rhythm to songs like painkiller and afterlife because those have harmony upgrades already, so I figured I could just update the .mid and songs.dta, and then just leave the upgrades.dta as it is. essentially piggybacking off of the harmony upgrades, but what am I supposed to do with a song like Are You Gonna Be My Girl? There's no .dta files in the RBHP package(because there's no harmonies needed for that song), so...can I just copy the .dta file straight from the LIVE file of that song into a new folder labeled "areyougonnabemygirl'? don't I need the exact song id in the upgrades.dta for the upgrade to work? where can I find this? thanks in advance.

You would need the updated information and song_id that can be found on the game disc. There's information elsewhere on how to get your hands on that, but it's against forum rules to share it here, I think.